First Time Player
by Ezri Dax
Summary: (FemShep/Traynor) Ever wonder what a chess match would be like between FemShep and Traynor... minus the shower? It doesn't quite go as Sam would expect it...


**Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own anything in the Mass Effect Universe. No matter how much I may want that. Unfortunately, until I get my hand on a genie lamp, it will stay that way.**

**This little idea just wouldn't leave me alone since FemShep and Samantha didn't actually get round to play chess... *COUGH* Shower Scene *COUGH***

**P.S – I took a few conversation points from The Big Bang Theory episode 'The Werewolf Transformation' at the start. Sorry about that.**

**As always, I'm open to criticism as I want to improve any way I can.**

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**Chess**

"So, if I move my guy... here. Isn't that checkmate and I win?"

Shepard really had no idea of what she was doing. For the past 40 minutes she'd quite literally just picked a random figure from her side of the board and had moved it as far as it would go, hoping to God that it was the right move on her part.

If she were to be entirely honest, most of her time was spent either ogling Sam or pointing out similarities between the holographic chess set and the alien species of the galaxy. Although to be fair to herself, the pawns really did look like little angry Krogan and the Knights of the board were easily comparably to a creepy looking Elcor, if you looked at them sideways at least.

Anyway, Sam was always easy to stare at. She was beautiful. Her hair was a dark and vibrant colour which complemented her tanned complexion perfectly. Her eyes were a deep mahogany with tiny flecks of gold around the iris which created, in Shepard's opinion, the perfect shade of chocolate. And when she smiled it seemed that the whole room seemed to smile with her, but that may just be Shepard's own bias. What she especially loved however was the cute little dimple Sam got between her brows when lost in deep concentration, it just made her want to kiss the woman senseless.

On more than one occasion Sam had had to jokingly point out that it was her turn to play. But each time Shepard had cheekily answered with the point that Sam was simply far too pretty to ignore. This in turn caused the Specialist to flush prettily at the compliment and a smiling Shepard to yet again, randomly move a piece that she hadn't used in a while to a new position on the board. Sam had blushed a lot in the game so far.

Shepard looked up from the GUI chessboard to stare quizzically at her lover. She had genuinely no idea. Just before inviting Sam up to her Cabin she had briefly looked over the rules of the game and to say that she didn't understand most of it was a small understatement. It didn't help that she found it too tedious to actually finish reading the rules. Most of the time she had to have Sam confirm whether or not she'd made a legal move.

Sam didn't answer but just stared intently at the board and shifted forward on the sofa. "Huh."

The Spectre blinked at her and then looked back at the board. The holographic images gazed right back, only pausing their defiant glare when the interface runtime caused them to flicker. She tried to discern what Sam was seeing but... yeah, she had no idea.

"Well, is it or isn't it?"

Sam slide back in her seat and looked at the soldier across from her. "You know, I think this is a good stopping point. I mean, it's your first real game and I threw a lot of information at you. To be fair it's quite a hard game to come to grips with straight away."

Shepard frowned. Despite nearly all her attention being centred on Sam, she did manage to retain a somewhat small amount of the information that had been enthusiastically hurled at her. "But wait... Your king is trapped. You can't move here, because of my star ship,-"

Sam gave her a look. "It's a rook, Shepard."

She ignored her and carried on. "-And you can't move here because my Turian guy."

"Bishop."

"Whatever, they both have pointy heads. And anyway you can't go _there_ because my overly creepy Elcor knight thing is _all_ over that area."

"Like I said, it's a hard game." Sam switched off the Chess interface, letting the holographic chessboard return to its menu screen before the Spectre could point out another feature.

"But, did I win or not?"

"You know, I think you're starting to understand chess."

"But-"

"Did you have fun? Because Chess is all about having fun"

The swoosh of the cabin doors interrupted Shepard's reply. Dr Chakwas stepped in holding a small metallic box in one hand and a data pad in the other. She looked less than amused.

Shepard shot back in her seat. She had a feeling that the Doctor's lack of smile had something to do with her. She had purposefully avoided the Medic recently, not because of any dislike for the Doctor, in fact, quite the opposite. The two had developed quite a rapport after all those times the Commander had found herself stuck in the Med Bay due to a lacerated arm or concussion or some other injury that Shepard had managed to accumulate during her missions.

She just didn't see any reason to see the grey haired woman for medical purposes if she knew herself that she was fine.

Actually.

Now that she thought about, she _did_ get a lot of concussions and, shit- don't you hallucinate when having a concussion?

_Fuck._

She inwardly groaned. _Man_ she had done some fucked up stuff when concussed.

_Mental note:- _Never_ think it's a good idea to make a pillow fort with only three pillowwhen half naked and the whole crew can see you through the Med Bay glass._

"Commander, since you took it upon yourself to avoid me at all costs; I've had to take it upon _myself_ to hunt you down."

Sam's eyes furrowed and she looked to Shepard for clarification. She didn't know that the SpecTRe was meant to go see Chakwas at all.

"I'm fine Doc, I just-" Chakwas' expression stopped her midsentence. The greying Doctor still remained the only one who could silence the forceful Commander with a mere look. It took balls to do that.

"Your vitals say otherwise." She gestured to her data pad in her hand. "And Garrus tells me that whilst groundside, you took several full biotic body blows, including one to the head. You need treatment Commander."

"Traitor..."

"We're just trying to keep you in one piece." She opened up her omni-tool and tapped a few buttons to get to her medical interface which showed the physical trauma the woman had been through in the previous mission before returning her gaze back to Shepard. "I just want to give you a full body scan and patch up any misplaced brain cells."

"Mybrain cells are just fine, thank you very much" Sam could feel the aggravation rise within her lover; her usual patience for everyone had abandoned her and Sam could see her jaw tighten ever so slightly.

Sam was conflicted, whilst she wanted the best for Shepard, to keep her safe and in good health; she also knew that the war was weighing heavily on Shepard's shoulders and that she didn't get much time to herself. She knew that there were few moments in the day in which nobody asked the SpecTRe about how many had died that day or what they should do now against the Reapers or Cerberus. It seemed like no one seemed capable of making decision for themselves.

However she did know that the Commander cherished all the time that they spent together and the feeling went both ways. Everyone needs a little R&R sometime, especially with one's lover. She supposed Shepard was just annoyed at having her downtime disrupted.

Sam put her hand over Shepard's and rubbed gentle, little circles over the back of her hand in an attempt to sooth the tense woman. She inwardly smiled smugly when the other woman relaxed her stiff posture slightly.

"Commander, this won't take long and you can return to Specialist Traynor as soon as we're done." Chakwas held up a hand to stop the argumentative retort that was a literal second away from escaping the Soldier. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way and I don't care if I have to get James up here to manhandle you down to the Med Bay."

Shepard scowled at the Doctor. "I hate you right now." She sighed and stood up before turning to the still sitting Specialist, their hands still intertwined. "Look Doctor, I'm fine. No broken bones or missing limbs. I'm all good." She said defiantly, still glaring at Chakwas.

Sam stood up alongside her and squeezed her hand. "Go on you. The quicker you go, the quicker you can come back." She smiled. "Besides, I'm sure it won't take that long"

Just as Shepard was about to turn on Sam, Sam turned to the Doctor. "Could you go to the Med Bay? I'll make sure she gets down there soon." Shepard glared at her and took away her hand, folding her arms across her chest.

Chakwas gave her a measured look but nodded and closed down her medical interface before heading towards the door. Just before she left the room, she stepped back in. "Oh, before I forget, Tali wanted me to give this to you." She put the small metal box on the desk.

"She said she finished it today." And with that the older woman turned on her heel and strode out.

As soon as the Cabin doors swung shut Shepard turned on Sam. "What the hell Sam? Why are you helping her?"

"Because I want the best for you." That adorable little crease emerged on Sam's brow and the tanned woman stepped forward into Shepard's space, her hands ghosting along her hips until they settled comfortably. Fortunately Shepard was only moderated irritated and allowed the physical contact between them, even moving to reflect Sam's actions.

Sam tilted her head up and looked into Shepard's eyes with her own, trying to find a way to show her what she's feeling. "Look, I know you're Commander Shepard, Saviour of the Citadel and the Slayer of Reapers, but you're just one woman. Granted, you're a woman that has a fantastic smile, who makes me much happier than I've ever been in a long time _and_ who manages to give me the best sex possible." Shepard just rolled her eyes and smiled but couldn't quite seem to meet her lover's eyes. "But you can't be the Great Commander all the time you know. As sexy as I think she is, I think I prefer the woman behind all that armour."

She smiled again and caught Shepard's gaze again. "Besides, it would be rather tragic if that woman just flopped on the floor and died because of some injury she didn't get checked out. Think of the lack of sex I'd have to suffer through!" She added a quick wink and brought their hips together, letting her thumbs rub soothingly against the material and offering a comforting smile to the other woman.

Realistically Shepard knew that Sam was right, that Doctor Chakwas was right about her. She knew that after every mission she really should go get checked out, just in case of an injury she wasn't aware of. But in all honesty she was just so tired of constantly being on the move, of looking after other people, of doing other people favours that she just cracked and took it out on Doctor Chakwas who really didn't deserve it. She sighed, mentally berating herself and made a mental note to apologise to the good Doctor later.

She just missed having some free time, especially with Sam.

Sam let her left hand trail up the Commander's body until she could cup her face. Gently she soothed out the stress lines on her forehead and smiled when the Commander relaxed again.

"Please? For me?"

Shepard lasted for all of two seconds before she relented, throwing her arms up in exasperation. "Fine!"

"Good! Now mush. The quicker you go, the quicker you get back and the quicker you can get more of this..." She quickly leaned in a captured the SpecTRe's lips with her own. Soft lips melded together until one of them deepened the kiss. Tongues seductively played with each other, eliciting a moan from Sam until Shepard reluctantly pulled away in need of oxygen.

Resting her forehead against the tanned Specialist's forehead, Shepard couldn't help but verbalise her thoughts.

"How is it that you make everything ok again? I got angry and yet you just- ...How do you do that?"

"Maybe there's something to be said for the British accent?" They both chuckled lightly and Shepard stole another chaste kiss before pulling away. She ran a hand through her hair, drawing it back from her face before rubbing that hand down her face to work out the stress.

"But I don't wanna go Sam! She'll give me that disapproving motherly look and I _hate_ that look!"

"...Did you just stamp your foot?"

Shepard froze.

"...No?"

"Hah! Did The Great Commander Shepard just stamp her foot because she didn't get her way? I could make money from this! Now I just need to think how..."

"I hate you."

"No you don't. Now go before Doctor Chakwas starts getting pissy about it."

"I think she's gone past 'pissy'"

"And whose fault is that?

"Garrus'?" They matched each other with unimpressed stares until Sam's facial facade broke into an eye roll.

"Go."

"Fine, but if it's more than a ten minute check up, I'm blaming you!"

"I told you it would be a quick check up."

"No you didn't, you said, and I quote: _The quicker you go, the quicker you get back"_

"That has got to be the worst British accent I have ever heard. And anyway, it worked out for the best didn't it?"

Sure enough, Shepard had seemingly only managed to accumulate a few cuts and bruises on the previous mission and had managed to escape from the Med Bay after eight and half minutes of only half listening to the Doctor about keeping herself in good health.

The two lovers were back in the Cabin again; well actually Sam had never left, and were currently intertwined on the edge of the bed, with Sam straddling the Commander.

"Mmm, I should say so." Shepard murmured against soft lips. The Commander had one hand firmly cupping the Specialist's supple behind and the other stroking up and down Sam's back. The two were as close as they could possibly get without kissing and well... She loved to cuddle.

She had a couple hours free and she was going to enjoy it damnit.

"That's not what you were saying ten minutes ago." Sam's eyes twinkled in amusement at Shepard's sudden change of mind. She had her hands linked together behind the SpecTRe's head, giving Shepard the perfect close up view of her breasts. She had taken off her Alliance top, leaving her in a black tank top and bra. It really didn't take much to distract Shepard sometimes.

"Oh shut up."

"Aww, don't be sad."

"Oh I'm not sad." Shepard said smiling, pecking her on the lips.

"Oh really?"

"Mmm, really. Wanna know why?" Shepard rested her forehead against Sam's gently, looking into her eyes. Sam's smile grew wider and dipped her head briefly in a nod, her hands stroking and massaging the back of Shepard's neck and shoulders.

Shepard's smile mirrored Sam's and stretched across her face. She leaned forward and brushed her cheek past Sam's until she was by the brunette's ear. Her hot breath sent shivers of arousal down the Sam's spine and Shepard felt an answering pang of arousal in her lower abdomen, grinning when Sam grasped at Shepard a little more desperately.

Shepard licked a curve around the shell of her ear before tugging on the lobe with her teeth, smirking inwardly when she heard Sam's breathe hitch.

"It's because..."

A kiss long the jaw.

"I..."

A nip into her neck. A gasp.

"Am..."

A kiss on the lips.

"The one who totally owned you at Chess today."

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**By the way, I'm open to ideas if you guys have any. My imagination is a tad low right now...**

**And like everyone else, I like reviews XD ... totally no hint there.**

**Hope you liked it!**


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